This Week on the Dining Table

The "There is No Plan" Edition..........

 

 

 

One of the stops today while we were out and about.

Onward to the meal planning.....................

What was planned last week--

1.  Leftover Roast & Roasted Veggies
2.  Eggplant Parmesan, Salad

3.  Chicken thighs, Veggies and Risotto

4.  Assorted Leftovers
5.  Brats on Rolls, Cabbage, Fried Apples

6.  More Leftovers
7. ?  Don't know yet.....more Leftovers if not already eaten by then

 

And this is what actually happened--

1.  Leftover Roast & Roasted Veggies
2.  Eggplant Parmesan, Salad

3.  Chicken thighs, Mixed Veggies , Corn Casserole

4.  Assorted Leftovers
5.  Leftovers Again

6.  More Leftovers
7.  Roasted Chicken, Tossed Salad

It was all about the leftovers until Friday night.
 

Last week I made 1 trip to 1  markets and spent a little over $11.  Not sure on the exact figure or the retail value since I don't have access to my spending notebook right now. 

 

Here is the plan for this week.........

1.  Pizza, Salad
2.  Steak, Cauliflower, Spaghetti Squash

3.  No Clue

4.  No Clue
5.  No Clue

6.  No Clue
7.  No Clue

This what College Boy and I are eating this week.  No clue on what Hubs is eating at home.  Obviously we are not home and we are not cooking this week.  8-)

I did a little food shopping at Ollie's today.....tea bags, no salt ketchup, tomatoes and snacks for College Boy.  Nothing spent OOP because I used a gifted Ollie's gift card to pay.

Cooking and food shopping will resume sometime next week when we get home.
It's nice to have a break from cooking sometimes, ya know?

 

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?    

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten that week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week, other than clearance deals on Xmas themed plastic and paper goods?

Sluggy

Food & Toiletries Spending......December Update & Year End TOTALS

 Onward to December's food spending report.......

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for DECEMBER 2014.

I have posted December's totals on the Total Grocery Savings for 2014 Page located HERE and have updated the Yearly Totals there.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in December.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Summary.

My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Pet Supplies, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable. We are a family of 3(2-3 at home this month). No kids under 18.

******************

BIG LOTS
OOP  $14.10
Qs/Ads  $12.28
Value  $32.83
Savings  46.55%

K-Mart
OOP  $1.06
Qs/Ads  $46.23
Value  $47.29
Savings  97.76%

MAINE SOURCE
OOP  $46.60
Qs/Ads  $25.45
Value  $72.05
Savings  35.32%

P&R OUTLET
OOP  $14.99
Qs/Ads  $17.84
Value  $32.83
Savings  54.34%

RITE-AID *(see below)
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/+UPs  $1,121.41
Value  $1,121.41
Savings   100%

SAM'S CLUB
OOP  $39.67
Value  $78.50
Savings  49.46%

 

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $48.53

Qs/Ads  $29.18

Value  $77.71

Savings  37.55%

TRADER JOE'S
OOP  $64.04
Qs/Ads  $29.90
Value  $93.94
Savings  31.83%
 

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $211.88

Qs/Ads  $247.18

Value  $459.06

Savings  53.84%
 

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, K-Mart at 97.76% and P&R Outlet at 54.34%.  My WORST savings rate was Trader Joe's at 31.83%.

I shopped at 9 different stores this past month.  I tried a few places I don't go to often as it's not in my regular routine.


* Let me explain how I spent ZERO at Rite-Aid for December.  The actual OOP(aka Out Of Pocket)spending was $15.55 for all of December.
But I had a shampoo return that netted me $8.04 back in December, as well as a return of $12 for some Aveeno products in November & a $5 refund for some +Ups that didn't generate, also in November.  All combined, this netted me $25.04 back in cash or on gift cards.   I applied $15.55 of that cash/credit back to my Rite-Aid spending in December, making my OOP $0.00 for the month.
I still have $9.49 to carryover into January 2015 to cover that much of OOP spending at Rite-Aid in the new year.

**  My TOTAL out of pocket for December food/toiletries was $440.87.
However I cashed out my Saving Star account(where some of my electronic coupon savings are deposited-I don't count these coupon savings until it's cashed out)and was able to deposit $40.04 for the year into our bank account, thus offsetting $40.04 of food spending.  This brought my OOP spending from $440.87 down to $400.83.

TOTAL Out of Pocket........** $400.83

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$1,600.34

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$2,001.17     

TOTAL Savings of...................................79.93%
TOTAL Savings WITHOUT Rite-Aid.............54.44%

This closes out the December food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

While I didn't stay under $350 for the month, because of the additional of my Saving Star funds into our bank, I was almost under $400 for December.

The monthly savings percentage went up(up is good)by 24.22% in December to 79.93% compared to November's 55.71% average.  Without counting the Rite-Aid amounts the savings rate went down slightly from November's amount (by 1.27%) to 54.44%.
Just slightly down.  I can live with that.  ;-)

The savings percentage went UP for the year by 4.10% after adding December's numbers in. 

Total spend on food/toiletries for 2014 after 12 months.....$4,989.49.

The average monthly food/toiletries spending for the year after adding in December's numbers is down a bit to $415.79 for the year from Novembers subtotal of $417.15.   That's $1.36 down from last month's year-to-date spending total.
Down is good in this case......

GRAND TOTALS for 2014

2014 YEARLY OOP SPENDING on Food/Toiletries........$4,989.49
2014 YEARLY VALUE OF ITEMS BOUGHT.........$12,101.56
2014 YEARLY SAVINGS of................$7,112.07
2014 SAVINGS PRECENTAGE on SPENDING..........58.77%


THOUGHTS on 2014...............
If I don't say so myself, I kicked ASS on food spending in 2014!
I wanted to keep the yearly total at $4800.  I went over that benchmark by $189.49 but I'll call this a good year even so.
Under $5K for ALL consumables(except "adult beverages" & eating out)for a household for an entire year is awesome.

 

If you have other ideas or guidelines you follow please leave a comment and share yours with us all.

 

*  How much did you spend on food/toiletries in December?
*  Do you track your yearly food spending?
*  If so, how did you do in 2014?
 

Sluggy

I'll be Around.....Sort of

Sorry I've been MIA the last couple of days.
Posting will be sporadic this week.
Sporadic because Sluggy is traveling again.

 

I made a break for it right before another snowstorm up North and headed South.
It was 70+ degrees today where I am.

Wanna guess where I am?

Sluggy
 

Rolling/Spending the +Up Rewards This Week.....Part 3

I transferred a prescription on Tuesday using a "get $25 in +Ups" Coupon in this week's sales flyer which netted me this................

My $1/1 St. Joseph's Q was expiring on 12/31 so I went up to Rite-Aid on Wednesday to use that Q......

2 x St. Joseph's aspirin BOGO sale=$2.69
1 x Bayer aspirin 20% wellness disc.=$2.79
2 x Haribo gummies on sale=$2.00
1 x Wonderful pistachios on sale=$3.99
SubTotal.......$11.47

Coupons Used
1 x $1/1 St. Joseph's ManuQ=$1.00
1 x $1/1 Bayer aspirin IPQ=$1.00
1 x $2/1 Bayer item In-AdQ=$2.00
2 x .30¢/1 Haribo F/BQ=.60¢
1 x $1/2 Haribo items VideoValuesQ=$1.00
1 x $1/1 Wonderful pistachios VideoValuesQ=$1.00
Coupon Total........$6.60

$11.47-$6.60=$4.87

I used $4 in +Up Rewards expiring 1/2/15 and put .87¢ on a Rite-Aid gift card(with a $8.04 return/credit)so nothing spent OOP.

No new +Ups were earned this time.
Spent down $4 in Ups
Spent ZERO OOP.
Brought home $19.44 in products.


Then today while out for my eye appointment we hit the Rite-Aid downtown and got all this.......

2 x Huggies Wipes on sale=$6.00
2 x Gear Deo on sale=$6.00
1 x Bayer aspirin 20% wellness disc.=$2.63
1 x Ricola drops 20% wellness disc.=$2.39
1 x Wonderful pistachios on sale=$3.99
2 x NatureMade Fish oil gummies 20% wellness disc.=$21.58
2 x NatureMade Fish oil caps 20% wellness disc.=$15.18
SubTotal.................$57.77

Coupons Used
2 x .50/1 Huggies IPQ=$1.00
2 x $2/1 Gear Deo IPQ=$4.00
1 x $1/1 Bayer product IPQ=$1.00
1 x $2/1 Bayer product In-AdQ=$2.00
1 x $2/1 Ricola drops R-A/Facebook Q=$2.00
1 x $1/1 Wonderful item VideoValuesQ=$1.00
2 x $2/1 Nature Made Gummie product IPQ=$4.00
1 x $2/2 Nature Made products IPQ=$2.00
2 x $1/1 Nature Made product VideoValuesQ=$2.00
Coupon Total.........$19.00

$57.77-$19.00=$38.77

I used $36 in +Up Rewards and paid $2.77 on the gift card with my returns credited to them., so no mew money spent.
I received back $18 in new +Up Rewards($1 wyb2 Huggies, $2 wyb2 Gear, $15 wyb$30 Nature Made).
(My doctor wants me to start taking Fish Oil so this was a good deal on the spend $30/get $15 +Ups back.)

I have now spent down/rolled my +Ups until Jan. 11th so I don't need to return to Rite-Aid for at least 9 days from now.

$36 in +Ups Spent.
$18 in +Ups Earned.
Zero spent OOP.
$77.59 in new products brought home.
And a $50 Level Reward Code earned on 1 card.


Sluggy

It's That Time of Year Again

It's January and that time of year when the retailers haul out that BIG LIE.
You know, the one about how you need to spend gobs of $$$ on shiny new plastic containers to organize your life/stuff.
Or the one where you need to join a gym and pay for the honor of losing weight/getting fit.
Or the one where you need to start a diet which usually involves paying some company to eat their nasty tasteless foods.

Don't buy into the BIG LIE this year!

You can organize your life/paperwork/stuff/etc. by spending ZERO $.
Just get rid of crap you don't need/use.
Reduce the stuff in your life and then you won't need to buy storage containers to contain it all and keep it out of sight.

You can get fit by getting off your ass(me included!)and taking a walk/run and by exercising in your home.  Just move!

You can eat well by just saying NO! to crap food and not eating so much, even if it's good for you food.
Diets don't work anyway once you go off of them and WHO amongst us can stay on a diet indefinitely?
You need to make permanent changes in the way you eat/what you eat/when you eat/et cetera instead.



You can achieve success at any/all of these areas in your life and you can do it without spending $$$!

So stop right now and step away from those Rubbermaid Tubs, Gym Contracts and prepackaged Diet Foods.
You can have a better life WITHOUT putting more money into someone else's pocket in 2015!


Sluggy